Life Through a Background Blur by Rick Bucich

Hope for Anissa

Get Well Anissa!

Update 11/20/2009: For the latest from Anissa's husband Peter, visit her old site Hope 4 Peyton. In summary, Anissa had a second stroke while in the hospital but she has shown signs of responsiveness. Their immediate needs are being met, what the family needs right now is prayers.  If the page won't load due to high traffic, I have re-published the Anissa update from Peter verbatim.

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Today a good friend and all around wonderful person, Anissa Mayhew (top/rear) had a stroke (her second).  I know few details except the fact that it happened this afternoon and she is currently in ICU.  It will be well worth it if this post reaches just one person willing to send her their thoughts and prayers. 

Pictured above Anissa - @anissamayhew (top/rear), Heather Spohr - @mamaspohr (left) and Victoria Haller - @vdog (right) having fun at the Type A Mom Conference 2009

There is no way I could ever do justice to what she is going through now or what she endured as a parent with a daughter with cancer, (fortunately in remission). You should do yourself a favor and get to know her candor yourself, she currently writes at FreeAnissa.com and is the big boss over at the Aiming Low.

Update 11/18/2009

A Caring Bridge site has been set-up for Anissa where donations can be made to the family.

Frequent Anissa updates are available on The Spohrs are Multiplying

Anissa was just coincidentally featured on the Today show, see the video below:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

RAW Conversion on the Canon 7D

Update: 11/19/2009: Less than 24 hours after publishing this post, it is now obsolete with the release of Lightroom 2.6 and Adobe Camera RAW 5.6 for Photoshop each offering RAW support for the Canon 7D.  Since this is a recent development I have not had a chance to try either yet.

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I'm fielding a lot of questions about the Canon 7D and image quality (or lack there of) which I am largely attributing it to the lack of a compatible 3rd party RAW converter from Adobe or one of the other similar image manipulation software companies.

Thought it may be useful to post two images side-by-side so you can see for yourself the differences between RAW run through Lightroom 2.5 and a high quality .jpg from the camera.  At first glance the flaws in the RAW photo may not be too obvious but click on the photo to see the full resolution version (converted to .jpg to conserve file size) which you can inspect on your own hard drive.  If you zoom in you'll see considerable noise and lack of sharpness. 

First the Canon 7D RAW file from Lightroom:

Next up a Canon 7D .jpg file from Lightroom:

Experimenting with Motion Blur in San Francisco

Motion blur photos taken with Canon 7D

This past weekend the three of us traveled up to San Francisco to get away briefly. I had a chance to do some experimenting on the streets trying to capture interesting motion blur shots.

Streetcar on Market Street, San Francisco, CA

A neutral density or ND filter is useful for capturing motion blur during the daytime because the long exposure will over expose the image. It's purpose is simple, don't let as much light into the lens by placing a dark piece of glass in front of it.  I didn't have one with me so I made the most with what the camera setting offered me, lowered the ISO to 100, set a manual shutter speed of around a second and stopped down the lens to f/22 to let in as little light as possible.

Next time I'll have a ND filter with me but here are a couple examples of what I came up with.  Not spectacular by any means but fun nonetheless.

Cable Car on California Street, San Francisco, CA

View from the Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco

This is the view from our room at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco taken and published via my camera phone. We had to get out of town briefly and it is less than a hour away.

Looking forward to a nice dinner out. Leaning toward the Tadich Grill but the Top of the Mark is tempting with its spectacular views...and the convenience factor since it is in the hotel. (Update 11/16/09 the Top of the Mark couldn't accommodate us so we used room service which was excellent)

Daytime view from the Mark Hopkins Hotel using my camera phone

Nighttime view from the Mark Hopkins Hotel using my Canon 7D (added 11/16)

Mavericks Surf Contest Waiting Period Begins

The Mavericks Surf Contest is quickly becoming one of the better known and prestigious surfing competitions in the world...and it happens practically in my back yard.  A number of things set it apart, it is one of the largest waves in the world that can be ridden by surfboard, it takes place a half mile off shore, it is only called when the conditions are perfect with only 24 hours notice and only 24 surfers are invited total.  It gained extra notoriety in 1994 when famous big wave rider Mark Foo was killed surfing Mavericks. When the invited get the call, they drop whatever they're doing and head to Half Moon Bay California.

Because it takes place so far from shore, it isn't exactly an easy spectator event so people pay good money to get out on boats near the action (and presumably out of harms way) to see it up-close.  Last year I was lucky enough to be granted a press pass to be on the photo boat all day.  (notice there aren't any of my pictures in this post)  The conditions weren't right and the contest was not held last year.

We're back in the official waiting period again this year and I am hoping to get that golden press pass again.  I have been anxiously awaiting for well over a year for the season to roll in and I can't wait to get some shots.  Fortunately they have already had some big waves roll through this year and I have my bug-out-bag loaded with batteries, granola bars, sea-sickness pills, warm hat, extra memory cards etc...

Since this post is dull without some picks, here's a couple I can't take credit for to whet your appetite:

With any luck, I'll have a few of my own to display in the coming months. If they're anything like these photos I'll be stoked!

Tiny Prints Photo Contest

I wanted to let everyone know that Tiny Prints just launched a new photo contest called Talent Search 2009.  Photographs may be submitted to one of three categories, Family, Couple & Baby and will be judged by one of my photographer friends, Mishelle Lane, Critsey Rowe, Casey Mullins or Karen Walrond.

The winner will be featured in our 2010 advertising campaign.  Visit the site for more information on prizes.  Looking forward to seeing your photos!

My son as a baby is featured frequently on our site and I get a kick our of discovering new photos of him. Now is your chance to do have the same fun.

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What Fluid Head for my Canon 7D with HD Video?

Now that I own a Canon 7D with HD video capability, I find myself obsessing over how I can actually take decent videos with it.  Stability is they key and it has become immediately apparent that my current carbon fiber tripod and Kirk ball head are completely inadequate for video so I put them up for sale on Craigslist and found an immediate buyer. Now I'm in search for a compromise solution for both stills & video.

There's no shortage of fluid heads available but they are by nature designed to only hold a camera in the horizontal position so stills in portrait orientation aren't possible.  I'm a big fan of Arca style lens and body plates so I've been looking for a hybrid solution for stills and video.  From cruising numerous forums on the matter, I'm not alone. 

The most reasonable answer I've found is the use a Kirk or RRS (Really Right Stuff) L plate on the camera to switch the orientation and then use an Arca clamp adapter on the head of choice. Head to head, the RRS L plate seems to have an advantage because the dovetail work by sliding fore/aft or side to side. Still unsure whether I will get the Canon WFT-E5a wifi grip or not, it is pretty expensive with a $699 MSRP.  OK, so this part of the equation is partially solved, next step what video head to buy?  I think I might have found a possible solution with the new Feisol VH-40 video head which has an integrated Arca clamp.

On paper the Feisol head looks like a nice solution but there are a couple catches...

1. The Arca clamp is front to back oriented so the plate on my camera would be aligned incorrectly necessitating another adapter of some sort for shooting stills.  It would work just fine with the RRS L Plate and lens plate on my Canon 70-200 2.8 however.  Vertical stills are more of a challenge.
2. It is so new there are now reviews available and it comes from a family of products not known for making video heads. Is it fluid dampened?  Friction or spring tensioned?

The alternate popular choices right now appears to be the Bogen 701 HDV (pictured) and the Gitzo G2180, they of course will require adapters as well.

There does not appear to be a clear consensus from users as to the best tripod/video head combination for DSLRs shooting both video and stills. I really wish Kirk or RRS would come out with an integrated solution with their existing clamp system, their quality is top notch and I'd likely but their offering immediately. Unfortunately neither appears to be embracing video which is clearly going to be integrated into most or all upcoming DSLR cameras moving forward.

If you have an ideas on the matter, I would love to hear from you.

A Los Altos Halloween

This year we spent Halloween at a friend's house on Van Buren Street in Los Altos.  We had heard that it was a popular street for trick-or-treaters but I preserved some of the evidence below. There were times when it seemed like there were at least 25 kids in costume in the front yard at a time.

This is what the front door looked like for much of the evening

Another shot of trick-or-treaters

A photo of the all the Halloween activity on Van Buren Street

We made the mistake of letting Jack wear his fireman costume too much before Halloween so he was tired of it by the time the day rolled around, it stayed on for perhaps 20 minutes yesterday.  He didn't quite understand the concept so he stayed at the house all evening and didn't want to go trick-or-treating.  Since there was wine, cheese, pizza and other goodies that adults like, we stayed in and enjoyed the festivities as spectators. 

Everything was all but wrapped up by the time we got home with just one set of trick-or-treaters coming to our own door before we shut the lights off at 9:00 pm.  Already seemed like a full evening, but that's what happens when it gets dark earlier.

Birthday Bicycle Video with Canon 7D

This is a continuation of my earlier Canon 7D video post.

Trying my hand with video on the Canon 7D. We had just given my son a new bicycle for his birthday and he was eager to try it out. Video shot hand-held with Canon 28-70 2.8 L, built-in mic and manual focus. Video was edited slightly in iMovie.

Since I am a real novice both shooting and editing video, this should be an example of of something anyone could do straight out-of-the-box.